Not Military Justice Reform, but . . .

Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand

At times Global Military Justice Reform reports news that does not relate directly to military justice but is nonetheless likely to be of substantial interest to readers. We recognize this entails mission creep, and promise not to overdo it. That said, readers' attention is invited to this excellent post by Dominic Ruck Keene on the UK Human Rights Blog, reporting on the judgment handed down by Mr. Justice Leggatt in Al-Saadoon v. Secretary of State for Defence [2015] EWHC 715 (Admin. Ct.). The gist of the decision is that the European Convention on Human Rights applies where Iraqi civilians were shot by British soldiers in the course of security operations. "[W]herever a state which is a contracting party to the Convention purports to exercise legal authority or uses physical force, it must do so in a way that does not violate Convention rights." See Mr. Keene's post for some of the potentially serious implications.